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Friday, August 30, 2013

As The Steam/GOG Turns #9: "Kimberly, come in, are you okay?" (plus The Chaos Engine and much more)

Welcome back to As The Steam/GOG Turns, the continuing story of two competing digital distribution services that compete for everyone's attention.

This week's releases are ... interesting to say the very least. Some older games being rereleased, some newer games that made it onto GOG a little bit later, and more!

So, let's start with Steam-only releases. Of course they always tend to release a ton of stuff onto Steam, except when there's a Steam sale, but this week I want to highlight a few releases.

First I want to highlight the game which I've quoted in the title, which is now on Steam: Space Ace, the Don Bluth / Gary Goldman laserdisc game in the same vein as Dragon's Lair is now available on Steam. I don't know if this has the nasty blue flashing from more recent ports of the game, so I would steer clear of it for now until it's certified to be reasonably arcade-accurate.

Next is an Early Access title, but I think I'm going to at least have a reasonable amount of interest in this because it's basically based on The Incredible Machine, and that is called Contraption Maker. I've definitely got some interest in this one so keep an eye out for this one.

Next is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows, the first TMNT game released by Activision (who now has the TMNT license... it is SO weird for me to write that, since Konami has been synonymous with the Turtles for a long time...). Some people are saying this one's bad so I would steer clear of it for now, at least until TotalBiscuit or someone does a first impressions-type video that should help with the buying decision.

The final game I want to feature that is Steam-only this week is the full release of Game Dev Tycoon, which I mentioned last week as a pre-purchase. I can't wait to give it a play, I don't know about you guys.

Next is GOG's GOG-only releases, which are a touch sparse once again this week.

First up is Wing Commander Academy, another Wing Commander game! Hooray!

Second is a rerelease because I guess the rights worked out and they've returned Dark Fall 1 & 2 to the GOG store. If you like horror games, go for it, but since I do not...

Last in the GOG-only releases this week is a 2-for-1. If you've kept up with this column, you know about the fact that Tales From Space Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee! Gold Edition were released on Steam awhile back, and now they are both on GOG. Nice going, guys! Glad that this worked out as well as it did.

And finally we have the dual releases on both Steam and GOG. There are three this week, so proceed accordingly depending on which one you support.

First is Shelter, an animal life simulator game that puts you in the paws of a mother badger. This one's interesting enough that I might pick it up on sale.

Second is the pre-purchase of the new Shadow Warrior. GOG's selling the new one alongside the classic one but since I already have the classic one, the point is moot and I'll wait a tad till it goes on major sale.

Last, but by no means least, is the remake / rerelease of the Bitmap Brothers classic The Chaos Engine. There are a few tweaks BUT you can play the original Amiga version. So, if you loved The Chaos Engine back in the day on your Amiga, or were always curious about The Chaos Engine, this is the perfect release for you.

So, that does it for this week. And until next time, the Steam/GOG conflict ever turns...